Ramon Foster: ‘It’s Not About The Money, It’s About Chasing That Ring’

PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) – Offensive lineman Ramon Foster will remain with the Steelers after signing a three-year contract with the team, completing the deal before officially hitting the open market as a free agent.

Foster joined “The Fan Morning Show” shortly after the news broke to make his first comments to the media since signing the deal.

“It’s exciting,” Foster said. “I’m excited for the team, just more about the team than anything. I’ve got a lot of friends, a lot of relationships on the team- not just with the guys, but with coaches, with people in the building.”

Free agents are allowed to negotiate with potential new teams in the two days before free agency officially begins, and though Foster did take advantage of that opportunity, he never seriously considered leaving Pittsburgh.

“We had some talks with other teams,” Foster said. “And I told my agent, we should try to get the best deal done possible with Pittsburgh. Him being an agent, he wanted to explore other options, but we maximized everything we could out of Pittsburgh…and both sides are happy with it, and that’s exciting.”

Though Foster felt that the negotiation process went well and it wasn’t stressful, he did make an attempt to tune out any outside pressure to keep his head clear.

“I erased my Twitter app off my phone,” Foster said. “You just see so much stuff, and people say a lot to you, so it’s not like you don’t see it and you don’t think about it. (Let’s) just say when we finally committed to it, I was happy that it was over. It’s fun. It’s not a headache, it’s just a lot of everything going on, you know?”

Foster said that the opportunity to continue to play under offensive line coach Mike Munchak was a “major part” of his decision, because of how much of a joy it is to play for the Hall of Fame player and longtime coach.

“If you’ve ever played for him, you want to,” Foster said. “Going to work isn’t work with him…when you have a situation like that, and a coach that’s played the game, that understands what each player can do and how to go about doing it, and also fight for his guys, that’s easy to go back to.”

Foster was also drawn back by the ability to contend for a Super Bowl every season.

“At the end of the day, you want that hardware,” Foster said. “Pittsburgh is a place that’s going to be, I think, year-in and year-out, be talked about as far as the Super Bowl chase…we have that shot, and that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

“It’s not about the money. It’s about chasing that ring. Can you imagine what a seventh Super Bowl in Pittsburgh would look like? I mean, the parade, the rings, the diamonds – that right there is what I’m searching for.”

It’s unclear who will start to the left of Foster at tackle next season, with Kelvin Beachum becoming a free agent. Reports have suggested that Foster returning would mean that Beachum is gone, and that Alejandro Villanueva would fill the void left by Beachum.

Foster was asked whether or not he has a sense of who will play left tackle next season.

“I kind of do, but we’ll let these next couple days play out,” Foster said.